Creative Kid Snacks

make fun of lunch!

Paleo Kid Friendly Flower Power Snack

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Flowers are one of the easiest ways to present whole food in a way that children will love.  Today’s Flower Power snack contains protein-packed egg and raw almond butter, as well as fresh red bell pepper, avocado, and apples for fiber.

You may have noticed the little bit of blue color on our egg – we used up our Easter Eggs to make this snack.  (I know it’s August now, this photo was taken several months ago!)  Use eggs as a healthy and colorful center to any flower.  Then, add sliced veggies all around to build a beautiful plate!

Raw almond butter tastes great!  We buy either Trader Joe’s or Maranatha brand, which are both made of only raw almonds!  No hydrogenated vegetable oils or added sugars like regular peanut butter!

What is Paleo?

A paleo diet refers to consuming the following kinds of whole foods: lean proteins, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and healthy fats from sources like fresh fish, olive oil, avocado, etc.  The word “paleo” is short for “paleolithic“, which refers to early prehistoric time when our ancient ancestors had access to certain foods available in nature as opposed to the Standard American Diet full of food options with lots of ingredients, additives, etc.  Consuming these “basic” foods and avoiding highly processed stuff has been proven to lower blood sugar, increase an individual’s energy level, and provide anti-inflamatory benefits.  Learn all about the paleo diet here.  Although we do not live exclusively by this type of diet in our home, the more meals and snacks I can prepare for my kids using the best kinds of foods available for us, the better!

Fruit and Veggie Ingredient Substitutions for Flowers

celery

sugar snap peas

peaches

strawberries

nectarines

bananas

clementine orange slices

grapes

. . . and the list goes on.  Be creative!

If you liked this snack, check out our other flower snacks, and then take a look at some of our other paleo friendly kid snacks:

Mr. Peacock

Breakfast Made Beautiful (would be paleo sans the cheese in the eggs) 🙂

Volcano Lunch

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My daughter (5 years old), is really into volcanoes.  She likes to study them, watch videos online about them, and find out all about how they work.  For awhile, she was saying that she wanted to be a geologist when she grew up!  We had made a volcano lunch last year, (click right here to see it), but I decided it was time for an upgrade to that version.

Volcano Lunch

Volcano Lunch - creative way to teach kids about how volcanoes work during lunch time!

This updated version of our volcano has more veggies and healthy ingredients than our first one.  The volcano itself is a grilled cheese sandwich (well, the equivalent of half of a sandwich as it was sliced into a triangle shape) – and this is because my girls are just crazy about grilled cheese.  I try to buy organic cheddar cheese and minimally processed bread to use in their sandwiches.  Place thinly sliced red pepper atop the volcano to look like lava.  Fresh red bell pepper is packed with vitamins and has a sweet, refreshing taste that my kids really like.  The “ground” beneath the volcano is made up of avocado, which is a great source of healthy fat and considered a superfood.  A sliced boiled egg as the sun in the sky will provide some good protein, and thin strips of baby carrot provide the sun’s rays.

Make Your Own Volcano

 When my daughter Grace first heard about lava on a Disney show called “Little Einsteins”, she suddenly wanted to know everything about it.   I explained to her how a volcano works, talked about the magma underneath the earth’s surface and all of the details about how pressure forms inside the volcano until it erupts.  She asked tons of questions, and that evening when we got home she asked to watch videos of lava.


Thanks to Youtube, we were able to see all kinds of lava flows.  This was one of my favorite ones (if your kiddo is into volcanoes too).  Or, check out these great general videos on how volcanoes work.

After several days on the lava bandwagon, I had the idea to actually make a volcano with her.  Why not right?

 Here is what we made, followed by some instructions on how to make your own:

Volcano Lunch - creative way to teach kids about how volcanoes work during lunch time!

Materials to gather:

Cardboard

Plastic (disposable) cup, cut down to half it’s original height

2 teaspoons baking soda

4-5 drops of red food coloring

1/4 – 1/2 cup vinegar (any kind)

Large surface to catch the flowing “lava”

Directions:

First, build a “volcano”.   

We used a cardboard box, (rolled up and taped together), but you could mold one out of play-dough, use paper maché, or even a mound of real dirt.

Next, place a small cup inside the top hole.  The cup should sit snugly in the opening at the top of the volcano.  I used a plastic cup that I cut to be shorter (about the size of a cup measurement).  The cup is where your explosion ingredients are mixed.

Add 2 teaspoons of baking soda.

Next, add 4-5 drops of red food coloring.

Finally, take about 1/4 cup of vinegar and slowly pour into cup over the baking soda.  

The explosion fizzes out and runs all the way down the volcano.

The “lava” is red because the food coloring mixes with the baking soda as the eruption happens so no need to mix the food coloring all the way through.

Have fun learning all about volcanoes, and then eating one!

Volcano Lunch - creative way to teach kids about how volcanoes work during lunch time!

Tell me what some of your favorite “experiments” or learning activities are for the kiddos.  I know you all have great ideas!  Feel free to link to a post you wrote about it in your comment.  I’d love to check it out!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

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Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is one of the most fun children’s books to read aloud!

Written by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, and illustrated by Lois Ehlert, the story is told of alphabet letters who mischievously climb a coconut tree and tumble down.  The rhythmic way it is written makes it fun to read with the kids, bouncing them on your knees all the while.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Lunch

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Kids Lunch - ideas for reading the story and making a special lunch to go with it! | CreativeKidSnacks.com

We created this lunch using leftovers a combination of leftovers from this yummy meal made the night before and fresh ingredients.  Spoon rice (or an alternative listed below) onto the bottom portion of your plate as a ground.  Next, use fresh pineapple chunks to build a palm tree.  Slice an avocado and place sections above for the palm branches.  Slice a meatball in half and lay onto the plate to look like coconuts.  (Note: I microwaved the portion of the leftovers I was going to use before assembling this lunch).

Finally, using string cheese, add the letters of the alphabet heading towards the “coconut tree”.  You’re done!

Variations:

Ground: oatmeal, hummus, cheerios, black beans, (or any other beans), turkey, or basically anything brown or black!

Tree trunk: banana, mango, peaches

Palm leaves: sugar snap peas, kiwi, green grapes, green apple slices

Coconuts: cereal, crackers (like Ritz), red or dark grapes, even sliced baby carrot wheels or banana wheels

Letters: pipe yogurt onto plate to make letters, Alphabet cereal

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Learning Activities

1) Act out the story using alphabet cards (use store-bought or make your own on index cards).

2) Dance to the story, make up moves to go along with different phrases in the book.

3) Put in order the alphabet letters: spread alphabet cards all over the floor (like the pile of letters in the story), and have your child put them back in order by lining them up on the floor.  (Make your own alphabet cards if you don’t have your own).

More Book-Inspired Snacks Ideas:

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle
Lousy Rotten Stinkin’ Grapes by Margie Palatini
Blackout by John Rocco
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

(Sharing HERE)

Did you enjoy today’s snack?  Learn more about this blog here.

Oscar the Grouch

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We are all about teaching kids to LOVE eating healthy foods here at Creative Kid Snacks, and one way we do that is by presenting them in fun ways.  I can’t tell you how many new foods my daughters have tried (and eaten all up), because it was included in one of their “creative lunches”.  These are foods that they would never choose to eat on their own.

Oscar the Grouch is the perfect character to turn into a super healthy lunch for the kids.  He’s green, brown, and white, and lots of nutrient packed foods can be used here to make him.

I’d like to show you the version we made the other day, and then offer other suggestions for you to try.

Create an Oscar the Grouch snack to serve the kids super healthy foods like peas, meat, olives, or broccoli, beans, or other greens you want them to eat! | CreativeKidSnacks.com

We used the following ingredients for the Oscar shown here:

peas – canned or frozen (thawed, heated)

cheese – any white cheese cut into circles for Oscar’s eyes

black olives – approximately 6 sliced

pulled pork – leftover from sandwiches served the night before

Arrange all ingredients on a small plate as shown to make Oscar’s face.  Super simple!

Variations:

Perhaps you are looking for a way to serve some of the following foods to your kids.  Try these in an Oscar!

Face:

Broccoli

String beans

Edamame

Softened avocado

Green grapes

Green apple slices

Eyebrows:

Rotisserie Chicken

Grilled Chicken breast sliced

Ground Beef

Pulled Beef

Ham

Mouth/Eyeballs:

Raisins

Blueberries

Eyes – Whites:

Hard boiled egg sliced

Cottage Cheese

Yogurt

Hopefully you can make your own super healthy Oscar soon!  Next time I try this, I’m going to use this:

(Sharing HERE)

Did you enjoy today’s snack?  Learn more about this blog here.

And now it’s time for the Weekly Kids Co-op!

As moms, we are constantly on the lookout for great teaching tools and resources to use with our children.  I know I always benefit from seeing the creativity of others as they share lessons, activities, crafts, food, and more in their various blogs.  Mommy bloggers have become popular for a good reason: information is power.  Right, ladies?

The Weekly Kids Co-Op

The Weekly Kids Co-op is one of my very favorite such resources.  I have been linking my snacks to this link party for months now, and I am excited to be able to co-host it here at Creative Kid Snacks.

If you are a blogger, link up your kid related posts to share with all of us eager beaver mommas.  If you are a mom, take some time to look through all of the great ideas for teaching and playing with our kids.  Pin what you love.  Like I said before, information is power!

This party will take place every Thursday at Creative Kid Snacks.  You will find it hosted on several other blogs, but the days the party goes live will vary from blog to blog.

Get ready for all the great ideas!  Link, share, and enjoy!


Under the Sea

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“Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid is one of our all-time favorite movie songs.  It just gets stuck in our head every time we listen to it!

We’ve been in a bit of a whirlwind in life lately, so Sunday night we decided to veg and have a family movie night.  Our movie of choice was The Little Mermaid.

Today’s snack is inspired by Sebastain’s famous song “Under the Sea”.

"Under the Sea" kids snack with avocados, oatmeal, strawberries, and cheese. So fun! | CreativeKidSnacks.com
Create these fun little sea creatures using the following ingredients:

1/2 cup cooked oatmeal

1/4 avocado, sliced

1 strawberry

1/2 slick string cheese

3 grapes

goldfish crackers

1 teaspoon yogurt

Assemble:

Spoon your oatmeal onto the bottom of the plate for the ocean floor.

Next, arrange your avocado slices to look like a beautiful ocean plant.

Slice your strawberry in half so it lies flat on the plate and slice again into 6-8 thin strips to use as the crab’s arms and legs.

Slice 1/2 of your string cheese from the bottom into several small sections.  I think this little guy looks like one of Nemo’s little classmates.  (Now we are cross-referencing Disney movies!).

Slice grapes in half to lay flat onto the plate, and create little tails by slicing remaining portion of grape in half.

Add goldfish crackers.

**Optional: add little eyes to some of the creatures using a food marker

You are now ready to draw your waves at the top of the plate to complete the “Under the Sea” look.  I love to use the following technique:

If you enjoyed today’s snack, you’d also probably like our other Disney inspired snacks as well as our Nature themed plates!

(Sharing HERE)

Did you enjoy today’s snack?  Learn more about this blog here.

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Copyright Note

Please feel free to use any of these ideas with your children at home, school, church, or anywhere you are inspired to make fun of lunch. If you would like to share a post on a blog or site, you may use one picture so long as you include a link to the original post. Please do not re-post the whole article or distribute printed-out content without written permission from the original author.

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